Tortured Turtle Has 6-Inch Nail Pulled at Hamptons Rescue

Karen Testa, director of Turtle Rescue of the Hamptons, with a tiny patient. Turtles are hit by cars, dinged by boat propellers, hacked by lawnmowers or starved by ignorant owners. Photographer: Mike Di Paola/Bloomberg

July 24 (Bloomberg) -- The X-ray was horrific, showing a
side view of a box turtle that had been impaled by a 6-inch nail
running through its back and out the bottom shell.

“I put up a $10,000 reward to try to find the person who
violated this poor, innocent animal,” said Karen Testa,
director of Turtle Rescue of the Hamptons Inc. in Jamesport, New
York, a new facility in eastern Long Island. She never found the
psychopath, but she did save the turtle’s life.

“It punctured a lung,” Testa said, “but lungs don’t
collapse in turtles the way they do in humans, and he
survived.”

The turtles brought to the Jamesport facility, a two-story
1929 farmhouse, are usually victims of human interaction -- hit
by cars, dinged by boat propellers, hacked by lawnmowers or
starved by ignorant owners.

Testa, a woman with endless energy and enthusiasm, took me
through the facility, fitted with large plastic tubs,
ultraviolet-B lighting, water hoses and medical equipment. Two
volunteer wildlife rehabilitators administered to patients,
while incessant birdsong chirped over a sound system.

From one tub, Testa lifted a tiny box turtle, which sat in
her palm like a large coin. The hatchling had been stepped on
shortly after emerging from its egg.

“It’s amazing what she’s been through,” Testa said. “Her
eye was bulged out; one leg will always be paralyzed.” Although
the creature was underweight, it had improved much since coming
here.

‘Potato Chips’

The rescue keeps young or weak turtles until they are
strong enough for release in the wild, a treacherous proposition
for babies. “These are like potato chips to birds,” said
Testa, tenderly returning her little ward to its tub.

Upstairs is an intensive care unit and an incubation room.
Testa showed me a batch of diamondback terrapin eggs rescued
from a local driveway. The babies will have a chance here.

We looked in on a female box turtle, a hit-and-run victim
brought in the day the rescue opened in May. Her broken shell
was held together with orthodontic braces. They saved her life,
as well as three of her eggs, now warm and safe in the nearby
incubator.

“We were going to euthanize but said, you know what, let’s
just try. Maybe it’s good luck -- it was the first day we were
open!”

The bruised turtle looked, to my untrained eye, as if she’d
make it.

“She is our success story,” Testa said, beaming. “The
people who brought her in call once a week for an update.”

Sal’s Autobody

If Testa is guardian angel to the Hamptons turtles, her
partner, Sal Caliguri, is chief benefactor. The owner of Sal’s
Auto Body of Smithtown, Saint James, Caliguri purchased and
donated the $450,000 house and property, and he has paid for
many of the accoutrements as well, including a Range Rover used
for the rescue calls, which are made 24/7.

Caliguri’s largesse notwithstanding, Testa spends much of
her time fundraising. The nonprofit’s annual operating budget is
about $33,000, including $8,000 for property tax and $2,500 in
turtle food. Cor-J Seafood Corp. of Hampton Bays donates fresh
fish to ease the strain.

Some turtles will never be released into the wild, because
their injuries are too severe or because they are too tame from
their time as pets. They will have a safe and rather pampered
existence in the backyard, which is being landscaped into a
sanctuary.

There are man-made ponds, running filtered water, an
electrified fence to thwart raccoons and other predators, and a
cold frame greenhouse to keep box turtles segregated from
snapping turtles.

Fresh Herbs

Inside the greenhouse there’s access to shade, sunlight and
running water, and more fresh herbs than a farmer’s market. If
the box turtles tire of sage, thyme, mint or oregano, they have
kale, lettuce, strawberry, blueberry and tomato to round out the
diet.

“This is where the turtles are going to live out the rest
of their lives,” Testa said. “And they live a long time.”

That is, as long as they have Testa and the other
volunteers to care for them. Keeping that up will also require
the generosity of donors, so pitch in via the website or
Facebook page.

(Mike Di Paola writes on preservation and the environment
for Muse, the arts and culture section of Bloomberg News. The
opinions expressed are his own.)

Muse highlights include Katya Kazakina on art and Mark
Beech on books.